Stay Up And Watch The Sun

Lil Yachty “Running Out of Time”

Lil Yachty shifting from trap to post-Tame Impala psychedelia on his new record Let’s Start Here is an odd pivot but it totally works because he’s clearly way into the genre and had the resources to hire on a lot of talented indie artists including Patrick Wimberly formerly of Chairlift, Magdalena Bay, Mac DeMarco, Alex G, and members of Unknown Mortal Orchestra and MGMT. In some ways I’m surprised a major label supported a big swing like this, but I can see how Steve Lacy’s success gave everyone involved some confidence that they were on the right track and if this works out Yachty could become a festival staple. I’m rooting for him!

“Running Out of Time,” like all the best songs on Let’s Start Here, takes the Tame Impala vibe as a starting point for music that ends up heading off in other directions. In this case all the gravity is pulling towards R&B, particularly in the guitar parts that remind me specifically of Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” though I’m not sure if it’s actually the same chords. (Similarly there’s a touch of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Running Away” in the song’s DNA.) Yachty’s voice is limited but he commits to the bit well enough that when he reaches up for higher notes here he at least indicates where someone like Stevie Wonder or Frank Ocean would go with the melody. But it’s hard to imagine singers like that pulling off his drowsy affect here, which suits the spaced-out introversion of the music. As with Lacy on his hit “Bad Habit,” there’s an underdog vulnerability in his performance that makes it all resonate beyond the raw appeal of the groove.

Buy it from Amazon.